Locking device for bed-rails.



PATENTED JUNE 13, 1905.

A. R. HAMPTON.

LOOKING DEVICE FOR BED RAILS.

APPLICATION FILED 13130.19, 1903.

bHii esszs W Patented June 13, 1905.

ATENT QFFICE.

ABDA RAYMOND HAMPTON, OF PIEDMONT, ALABAMA.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR BED-RAILS- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 792,329, dated June 13, 1905.

To all 11/77/077? it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABDA RAYMO D HAMP- TON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Piedmont, in the county of Calhoun and State of Alabama, have invented a new and useful Locking Device for Bed-R ails, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to locking devices for bed-rails and similar structures subject to severe strains.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improved locking device bymeans of which the side rails of bedsteads may be connected with the head and foot boards thereof in an entirely satisfactory manner without necessitating the formation of mortises or kerfs in the head and foot boards to receive fastening members.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and positive locking device for use under the conditions specified in which all the sockets or other apertures are formed in metal for reasons that will hereinafter apear.

p A further object of the invention is to provide alocking device of the characterspecified which will hold the side rails of a bed with perfect security, preventing longitudinal or rotative movement, and which will permit the side rails to be quickly detached from the head and foot boards of the bed and attached thereto with equal facility.

lVith the objects above mentioned and others in view the invention consists in an improved form of locking device, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings, and having the novel features thereof specificallypointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the minor details of construction may be made without departing from the spiritof the invention or sacrificing the advantages thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the locking device applied, the adj acent portions of a side rail and of a head or foot board being shown in association therewith. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the looking device and adjacent portions of a bed-rail and a head or foot board. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the male member of the locking device. Fig. 4 is a transverse section through the female member upon the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, in which corresponding parts are designated by similar characters of reference in the several views, B designates the head or foot board of a bedstead, and R represents a side rail thereof, both the side rail and the head or foot board being made of wood or other suitable material and being of any ordinary or preferred construction. The locking device consists, essentially, of a female member 1 intended for attachment to a side rail of the bed, a male member 2, designed forattachment to a head or foot board, and a latch (designated generally as 3) mounted upon the female member and adapted to engage with the male member to lock it positivelyin association with the female member. The female member 1 of the locking device is preferably of the form illustrated and consists of a casting, of iron or steel, comprising a base-plate 4 and a socket 5, extending longitudinally of the base-plate and flat at one side, as shown at 6. The socket is formed with an opening 7 opposite the flattened side thereof to permit the entrance into the lumen of the socket of a lug 8, rigidly attached to a spring 9, Which is secured upon the exterior of the socket by means of a screw 10 or other suitable fastening devices and has the free end thereof bent outward to afford a fingerhold. The lug 8 is preferably formed with a curved forward surface 11, as best seen in Fig. 2, in order to facilitate the introduction of the male member 2 into the socket without first retracting the lug from the pathway of the said male member.

The male member of the locking device consists, preferably, of a casting of steel or iron and presents a base portion 12, adapted for attachment to the head or foot board of a bed, and a projection 13, flattened at one side, as shown at 14, and adapted to fit within the socket 5 of the female member of the locking device. The projection 13 is slightly beveled on its forward end, as shown at '15, in order to provide an inclined surface over which the lug 8 may slide easily when the projection is introduced into the socket of the female member. Upon the side of the projection 13 opposite the flattened surface 14 there is provided at a suitable distance from the forward end a notch 1.6, whose forward side is disposed at right angles to the side of the projection and. forms a shoulder against which the lug 8 will press when the locking members of the device are in operative relation.

When it is desired to bring the members of the locking device into operative relation, the female member is simply fitted over the male member and the side rail of the bed to which the female member is attached is pressed toward the head or foot board until the end of the rail comes into contact with the head or foot board, as the case may be. In order to disengage the latch from the projection upon the male member of the locking device and permit the separation of the members, the spring 9 is sprung outward from the female member by engaging the end of the spring with. a finger or thumb and drawing it away from the female member 1. A very slight movement of the free end of the spring will suffice to disengage the lug S from the notch 16 in the projection 13, and the members 1 and 2 of the locking device may then be separated without difficulty.

It is of course to be understood that four locking devices are necessary to secure both the side rails of a bedstead; but the four locking devices required are exactly alike, and a description of one only is regarded as sufficient.

From the foregoing description and the drawings illustrative thereof it will be observed that the mortises or kerfs formed in the head and foot boards of wooden bedsteads as ordinarily constructed are dis pensed with when locking devices of the kind disclosed in this application are employed. The special objects contemplated in thus dispensing with the mortises or kerfs are chiefly of a sanitary character. As is well known, pathogenic bacteria and other low forms of life can retain their vitality for a limited time only upon. metallic surfaces; but in crevices and holes in wood they live indefinitely and multiply very rapidly. For this reason wooden bedsteads have been practically eliminated from hospital-wards and other sick-rooms where it is possible to do so and the more expensive iron or brass bedsteads substituted in lieu thereof. By employing locking devices of the character above dis closed to connect the side rails with the head and footbeards of the bedstead the openings in the head and foot boards where diseasegerms find lodgment are dispensed with, and the metal socket employed for the reception of the male member of the locking device is unobjectionable on this ground, because bacteria cannot retain their vitality for any considerable period upon metal surfaces.

As will be noted from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 4, when the male member of the locking device is introduced into the socket of the female member to the full extent the lug S of the latch 3 is automatically brought into engagement with the notch 16 of the projection upon the male member and the flat rear surface of the lug coming into contact with .the forward surface of the notch disposed at right angles to the surface of the projection will absolutely prevent any longitudinal movement of the said projection in the socket. Rotative movement of the projection within the socket is also positively prevented by the form of the socket and the projection entering thereinto. It is thus evident that accidental disconnection of the side rails of the bed from the head and foot boards thereof is impossible, and the rails are also held securely against any lateral or rotative movement which might permit displacement of the slats supported by the side rails. It will also be noted that when the lock has the members thereof in operative relation the end of the side rail lies in contact with the head or foot board and the open end of the female member is in contact with the base portion of the male member, thus affording a broad and solid surface of contact for the end of the side rail against the head or foot board and giving to the bedstead. an unusual degree of stiffness and strength.

Having thus described the construction and use of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a locking device for beds, a female mem ber comprising a base-plate provided with a socket having one of its side walls flattened and the opposite side wall provided with an opening communicating with the interior of said socket, a male member consisting of a base-plate adapted to be arranged at right angles to the base-plate of the female member when the two members are engaged, a proj ection extending from the base-plate of the male member and provided with a terminal inclined portion and an intermediate notch adapted to register with. the opening in the side of the socket when the projection is fully introduced into the latter, and a springlatch secured to the outer surface of the female member and provided with a lug having an inclined contact-face projecting through the opening in the side of said socket and adapted to engage the notch in the projection upon the male member.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ABDA RAYMOND HAMPTON.

fitnesses O. K. PAMGEY, T. BEN KERR. 

